November 27, 2005

Abortion: A Federalist Solution

While it's unlikely that the Founding Fathers anticipated the abortion debate, they did give us a framework around which to govern on issues just like it — highly emotional, high-stakes issues that go to the core of one's personal values and beliefs. They rightly recognized that the federal government is far too unwieldy and clumsy to deal with such delicate matters. These issues are best legislated by the states — or, better, by cities or counties. We can then choose to live under laws that most reflect our values. We vote with our feet...

The best solution is robust federalism. Forgo Roe, and let each state set its own policies on abortion. Those for whom abortion is an important fundamental right can live in areas where abortions are widely available. Those adamantly opposed to any and all abortions can live in jurisdictions that ban the procedure. People like me could live in communities where our tax dollars won't be funding abortions.

I think Balko is on to something. If the last few decades have shown us anything, it's just how intractable the whole debate is, particularly since it is most passionately debated by the 'true believers' of both sides. Here's Balko again:

Perhaps the most pertinent criticism of the federalist solution is that people with strong beliefs about an issue like abortion aren't content with applying those beliefs only to themselves and their immediate communities. Pro-lifers want it inscribed into federal law that life begins at conception, with no exceptions. Abortion-rights advocates want federal tax dollars to pay for abortions for the poor, despite the fact that some of those tax dollars come from citizens with moral objections to the procedure.

True believers, then, would never accept a federalist solution on a volatile issue like abortion. They'd rather impose their own values on everyone else. But after three decades of poisonous abortion politics, perhaps it's time the rest of us considered it.

Comments

This was debated over at Catallarchy a while back. Balko's position is, as usual, totally untenable. If Roe were overturned, a federal Right To Life Act would be introduced in both chambers of Congress within 24 hours.

Balko's response is for the Supreme Court to "forbid" Congress to do so and "demand" a federalist approach.

My response at Catallarchy:

So [Balko is] advocating that the Supreme Court – without any precedential or theoretical basis – undertake a new jurisprudence of eviscerating the Fourteenth Amendment for the sake of reinvigorating the Tenth Amendment, thereby further elevating the fiction of "states rights" over individual rights?

Kip...Thanks for your comments. I agree that Balko's proposal is not throughly libertarian, but in a polis of multiple interests a throughgoing, principled libertarianism, an all-or-nothing approach usually finds itself with nothing.

For me, Balko's proposal has the advantage of splitting the difference between the 'true believers' of both sides. As to how it would interfere with the fourteenth amendment, only those that believe all forms of abortion to be one of the immutable 'priveleges or immunities of citizens of the United States' would find Balko's proposal offensive. In other words, the idea that the right to abortion is a 'fundamental right or privilege' is exactly what is in question, with both sides finding the position of the other side reprehensible.

Though I think that, realistically, you are correct. If the court were to overturn Roe, Congress would not let a day pass before issuing a federal ban on all abortion procedures. We'd then have to wait for the Court to rule that the issue is a state's right (10th amend) issue and that Congress does not have the power to prohibit.

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